Several future firefighters for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department received some real-life training Tuesday in how to safely battle a blaze in a building while standing on a rooftop and ventilating the structure.
Using an old one-story motel on McMurray Road in Buellton, the firefighters took turns climbing a ladder while armed with chainsaws and rubbish hooks to cut holes into the structure.
“We were fortunate to have this building donated to us,” said Capt. David Zaniboni, Fire Department spokesman who is a 29-year veteran of the agency and worked at assignments throughout the county.
Tilton Engineering made the structure available for the training since the building is set to be demolished, Zaniboni said.
The 19 students were part of the Fire Department’s latest recruit academy involving 14 weeks of training. They are about halfway through the academy.
With 225 feet of roof, the motel provided plenty of training ground for the recruits, valuable since a single-family home wouldn’t accommodate the number as easily.
“This is a large academy for us,” said Capt. Patrick Byde, adding most are about half the size.
The trainees were practicing the process of vertical ventilation, especially timely since a Fresno firefighter recently was critically injured when he fell into the flames following a roof collapse.
Vertical ventilation is a critical firefighting tactic and is especially valuable when a fire spreads into an attic, as flames did during a Santa Maria apartment building fire March 12.
While Tuesday’s training lacked the real flames and smoke, the recruits were still decked out in full turnout gear, explaining the three coolers filled with bottled water and sports drinks sitting nearby.
Vertical ventilation involves firefighters climbing on a burning building’s roof, cutting large square holes in the ceiling so smoke, heat and fire gases escape. That helps firefighters search for victims and accelerates the ability to get control of the fire.
“It’s actually a much preferred way to do it,” Zaniboni said.
But it comes with dangers such as the potential to slip and fall or have the roof collapse.
To ensure the roof remains structurally solid and safe, firefighters-in-training use rubbish hooks to pound on the surface before another trainee uses a chainsaw to open holes in the motel.
“We spend very little time up there,” Zaniboni said. “We go up, do our business and get down. We don’t want to hang around.”
It wasn’t long before the roof was dotted with multiple square holes depicting the handiwork of the recruits.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.